The women's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–11 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.

Top favorite Lisbeth Trickett powered past the entire field to earn Australia's second straight gold in the event. She posted a lifetime best of 56.73, just 0.12 of a second outside the world record set by Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. U.S. swimmer Christine Magnuson took home the silver in 57.10, while Trickett's teammate Jessicah Schipper picked up the bronze in 57.25, handing an entire medal haul for the Aussies in the pool.

China's Zhou Yafei finished fourth with a time of 57.84, while Tao Li made a historic milestone for Singapore as she became the nation's first ever swimmer to reach an Olympic final, earning a fifth spot in 57.99. Meanwhile, Great Britain's Jemma Lowe (58.06), Brazil's Gabriella Silva (58.10), and Netherlands' Inge Dekker (58.54) closed out the field.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 4 Jessicah Schipper 57.58 Q2 5 4 Christine Magnuson 57.70 Q 6 3 Zhou Yafei Q, AS 4 4 5 Tao Li 57.77 Q 5 5 8 Gabriella Silva 58.00 Q 6 5 5 Elaine Breeden 58.06 Q 7 4 1 Ilaria Bianchi 58.12 Q 8 5 1 Lize-Mari Retief 58.20 Q, AF 9 6 5 Inge Dekker 58.22 Q 10 7 7 Aurore Mongel 58.30 Q 11 5 6 Natalya Sutyagina 58.32 Q 12 7 4 Lisbeth Trickett 58.37 Q 13 6 2 Eszter Dara 58.39 Q, NR 14 7 2 Alena Popchanka 58.40 Q 15 5 3 Jeanette Ottesen 58.44 Q 16 7 5 Jemma Lowe 58.49 Q 17 4 6 Otylia Jędrzejczak 58.53 18 4 2 Mandy Loots 58.61 5 2 Yuko Nakanishi 20 4 4 Sara Isakovič 58.68 NR 21 7 3 Francesca Halsall 58.70 22 6 6 Irina Bespalova 58.92 23 6 7 Yuka Kato 58.94 24 4 3 Kateryna Zubkova 58.99 NR 25 6 1 Martina Moravcová 59.03 26 3 4 Birgit Koschischek 59.07 NR 27 7 6 Sarah Sjöström 59.08 28 4 8 Audrey Lacroix 59.10 6 8 Micha Kathrine Østergaard Jensen 30 3 1 Hannah Wilson 59.35 5 7 Chantal Groot 32 2 4 Triin Aljand 59.43 NR 7 8 Xu Yanwei 34 4 7 Daynara de Paula 59.45 35 3 6 Sara Oliveira 59.48 36 3 5 Anna Gostomelsky 59.50 37 3 2 Ingvild Snildal 59.86 38 3 7 Carolina Colorado Henao 1:00.06 39 7 1 Daniela Samulski 1:00.37 40 2 5 Choi Hye-ra 1:00.65 41 3 3 Eirini Kavarnou 1:00.74 42 3 8 Heather Brand 1:01.39 43 2 6 Yang Chin-kuei 1:01.60 44 2 3 Iris Rosenberger 1:01.67 45 2 2 Natalia Hadjiloizou 1:01.80 46 2 7 Emilia Pikkarainen 1:02.31 47 1 5 Binta Zahra Diop 1:04.26 48 1 4 Antonella Scanavino 1:04.28 49 1 3 Simona Muccioli 1:04.91

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 7 Lisbeth Trickett 57.05 Q 2 4 Christine Magnuson 57.08 Q, AM 3 5 Tao Li 57.54 Q, AS 4 8 Jemma Lowe 57.78 Q, NR 5 2 Aurore Mongel 58.46 6 1 Alena Popchanka 58.55 3 Elaine Breeden 8 6 Lize-Mari Retief 58.63

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Jessicah Schipper 57.43 Q 2 5 Zhou Yafei 57.68 Q 3 2 Inge Dekker 58.20 Q 4 3 Gabriella Silva 58.39 Q 5 1 Eszter Dara 58.84 6 7 Natalya Sutyagina 59.07 7 8 Jeanette Ottesen 59.29 6 Ilaria Bianchi

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Lisbeth Trickett 56.73 OC 5 Christine Magnuson 57.10 3 Jessicah Schipper 57.25 4 2 Zhou Yafei 57.84 5 6 Tao Li 57.99 6 7 Jemma Lowe 58.06 7 8 Gabriella Silva 58.10 8 1 Inge Dekker 58.54

References

External links Official Olympic Report